The man who became the first Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) patient in the United States has been identified as 42-year-old Liberian, Thomas Eric Duncan, according to numerous reports. He is from Monrovia, Liberia, a hotbed for the current Ebola outbreak.

Image/National Atlas of the United States

Reports note that Duncan was in the United States to visit his girlfriend. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden has said that Duncan was “staying with family members who live in this country.”

CNN reports the flight path Duncan took from Liberia to the US. He took a SN Brussels Airlines flight that went from Monrovia to Brussels and then to the US. In the US, Duncan was on two United Airlines flights — Flight 951 from Brussels to Washington Dulles and Flight 822 from Washington Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth.

3,698 miles away in Hawaii, a patient is currently in isolation at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, according to a KHON2 report. “We are early in the investigation of a patient — very, very early — who we’re investigating that might have Ebola,” said Dr. Melissa Viray, deputy state epidemiologist. “It’s very possible that they do and they have Ebola. I think it’s also more likely that they have another condition that presents with similar symptoms.”

According to the WHO, the total number of probable, confirmed and suspected cases in the current West Africa Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak as of 28 September 2014 is 7,178, with 3,338 deaths according to the health ministries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page